Sell Carbon Credits Research Articles

Implementation of Carbon Trading: Mechanisms of Execution and Legal Protection for Shareholders on the Indonesia Carbon Exchange

This research aims to find out how the trading mechanism on the carbon exchange and legal protection for company shareholders in carbon trading transactions on the Indonesian carbon exchange. Increased global awareness of climate change has prompted many countries, including Indonesia, to adopt more effective mitigation measures. A carbon exchange is a platform for buying and selling carbon credits, which can be obtained by companies that have taken decarbonisation measures. Through carbon trading, investors can be involved in reducing carbon emissions through a scheme that has been provided, namely emission trading or emission offsets. The Indonesian government issued carbon trading regulations and policies as an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions globally, and the presence of the Indonesian Carbon Exchange (IDX Carbon) provides positive sentiment for a number of issuers engaged in the environmentally friendly sector. This is because the presence of a carbon exchange opens up opportunities for environmentally friendly companies to increase their revenue by selling carbon credits. The method used in this research is normative juridical with statutory approach and conceptual approach. The results of this research show that shareholders of carbon exchange organisers can only be owned by sui generis institutions, Indonesian citizens, Indonesian legal entities, and/or foreign legal entities that have obtained permission or are under the supervision of the financial services regulator in their home country. In addition, members of the board of directors of the carbon exchange organiser must be domiciled in Indonesia.

Green mechanism: Opportunities for corporate investment in PV/battery/diesel hybrid systems with techno-economic and environmental analysis

In rural areas, diesel generators are prevalent due to their lower initial cost, despite inefficiencies and carbon emissions. Transitioning to PV/Battery/Diesel systems offers a solution by reducing costs and emissions. However, the high upfront expenses present a significant barrier, particularly for rural communities, necessitating external financial support. This study evaluates the benefits of adopting a PV/Battery/Diesel hybrid system over traditional diesel generators in a rural community with 25 customers and a daily demand of 50 kWh. The proposed system includes a 12 kWp photovoltaic array and a 48 kWh battery bank, simulated using Hybrid Optimization of Multiple Energy Resources (HOMER) software. Results indicate a 91% renewable fraction and a cost of energy of 0.279 USD/kWh, substantially lower than the 1.05 USD/kWh of diesel-only systems, with CO2 savings of 25 t per year. The paper advocates for a case study approach to green mechanism, urging energy and environmental companies to invest in these systems. By replacing diesel generators with hybrid PV/Diesel/Battery systems, companies can offer electricity at a reduced cost, driving adoption. Selling carbon credits from emission savings can generate additional income, leveraging CO2 tax incentives. Under scenarios where investors cover 50% of diesel costs, selling electricity yields 9581 USD annually, and selling CO2 credits generates 500 USD annually. This leads to a payback period of 9.83 years without CO2 credits and 9.18 years with CO2 credits, totaling 46,848 USD without CO2 credits and 52,927 USD with CO2 credits over the project's lifespan. Meanwhile, adjusting electricity pricing to 75% of diesel costs, this increases annual income from electricity sales to 14,372 USD. This reduces the payback period to 5.89 years without CO2 credits and 5.66 years with CO2 credits, totaling 105,094 USD without CO2 credits and 111,174 USD with CO2 credits at the end of the project.

Minimum Carbon Credit Cost Estimation for Carbon Geological Storage in the Mae Moh Basin, Thailand

Carbon geological storage (CGS) is one of the key processes in carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies, which are used to reduce CO2 emissions and achieve carbon-neutrality and net-zero emissions in developing countries. In Thailand, the Mae Moh basin is a potential site for implementing CGS due to the presence of a structural trap that can seal the CO2 storage formation. However, the cost of CGS projects needs to be subsidized by selling carbon credits in order to reach the project breakeven. Therefore, this paper estimates the economic components of a CGS project in the Mae Moh basin by designing the well completion and operating parameters for CO2 injection. The capital costs and operating costs of the process components were calculated, and the minimum carbon credit cost required to cover the total costs of the CGS project was determined. The results indicate that the designed system proposes an operating gas injection rate of 1.454 MMscf/day, which is equivalent to 29,530 tCO2e per year per well. Additionally, the minimum carbon credit cost was estimated to be USD 70.77 per tCO2e in order to achieve breakeven for the best case CGS project, which was found to be much higher than the current market price of carbon credit in Thailand, at around USD 3.5 per tCO2e. To enhance the economic prospects of this area, it is imperative to promote a policy of improving the cost of carbon credit for CGS projects in Thailand.

A static robust energy management approach for modelling low emission multi-vectored energy hub including emission markets and power-to-gas units

This paper develops a robust and sustainable energy management framework to model a multi-vectored energy hub (MVEH) system. A max-min-based static robust optimization model is developed to counter the uncertainties. Furthermore, a flexible energy demand management program, battery electric vehicles (BEVs), and compressed air battery storage (CABS) are integrated to enhance MVEH's flexibility. Hybrid power-to-X units (electrolyser, methanization reactor and fuel cells) are modelled to reduce green energy spillage and improve operational independence, including heat pumps. Moreover, the emission (carbon cap and trade) market along with carbon capture storage and utilization units (CCS–U), are incorporated to establish a low-emission multi-energy model. Simulation results demonstrate that with flexible resources and power-to-X units, MVEH reduces the operating energy cost by 46.4 % and improves the system independence by 19.06 %. Besides, CCS-U units produce 92 % less emission while increasing the energy cost by 5.1 %. However, MVEH gains the right to sell carbon credits under the emission market. Thus, the multi-vectored system's economical, reliable, and environmental viability are ensured. Finally, sensitivity analysis proves the robustness of the proposed framework against natural gas and carbon price fluctuations.

Innovative approaches in soil carbon sequestration modelling for better prediction with limited data

Soil carbon accounting and prediction play a key role in building decision support systems for land managers selling carbon credits, in the spirit of the Paris and Kyoto protocol agreements. Land managers typically rely on computationally complex models fit using sparse datasets to make these accounts and predictions. The model complexity and sparsity of the data can lead to over-fitting, leading to inaccurate results when making predictions with new data. Modellers address over-fitting by simplifying their models and reducing the number of parameters, and in the current context this could involve neglecting some soil organic carbon (SOC) components. In this study, we introduce two novel SOC models and a new RothC-like model and investigate how the SOC components and complexity of the SOC models affect the SOC prediction in the presence of small and sparse time series data. We develop model selection methods that can identify the soil carbon model with the best predictive performance, in light of the available data. Through this analysis we reveal that commonly used complex soil carbon models can over-fit in the presence of sparse time series data, and our simpler models can produce more accurate predictions.

Energetic Use of Landfill Biogas as a Power Energy Source: An Economic Feasibility Study

This paper presents an economic feasibility analysis for power generation from the energetic use of biogas produced in a landfill. Quantifications were made for the methane generated in the landfill, the electric power generation potential, and carbon credits. A cost analysis study and an economic feasibility analysis were conducted for the proposed system, taking two possible scenarios into consideration: with and without selling carbon credits. This paper shows the importance of including carbon credits in economic feasibility studies conducted in landfill projects, as such credits constitute an important source of income for such projects to become more feasible.

Carbon Trading in China Reduces the Dependence of Household Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Recycling on Government Subsidies.

China's enterprises of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) recycling suffer from low profitability that is highly dependent on government subsidies. This low economic gain impedes the sustainable growth of China's WEEE-recycling sector and also adds to the government's financial burden. Prior life-cycle studies have approved the carbon reduction potentials or net carbon credit of recycling WEEE. However, policymakers fail to know whether the revenue from selling carbon credits can offset the government's financial subsidy. We performed life-cycle and cost-benefit analyses for a case recycling enterprise that processes six categories of household appliances. The results show that the reduction potentials of greenhouse gases range from 930-3450 kgCO2e by recycling per ton of household appliances and materials substitution. The recycling enterprise would gain extra revenue ranging from 32 to 160 RMB per ton of appliance if the carbon credits were sold at China's current carbon price, i.e., 45-60 RMB tCO2e-1. Recycling waste refrigerators exhibits the highest carbon revenue, offsetting 6-17% of the government's financial subsidy. Microcomputers, by contrast, indicate the lowest carbon revenue, equivalent to 1-3% of its highest government subsidy. For each household appliance category, when the carbon price reaches 270-600 RMB tCO2e-1, selling carbon credits can fully offset the government's financial subsidy. Constrained by the processing capacity of the case enterprise, optimizations for appliance-recycling composition contribute a 15-25% profit growth to the current economic gains. Interpreting the specific profit depends on the predefined scenarios of carbon price and the substitution rate of the regenerated materials for the virginal ones. Our findings show that raising the profitability of WEEE recycling enterprises through the carbon trading policy contributes to the sustainable growth of China's WEEE-recycling sector while alleviating the government's financial burden.

Interested but Uncertain: Carbon Markets and Data Sharing among U.S. Crop Farmers

The potential for farmers and agriculture to sequester carbon and contribute to global climate change goals is widely discussed. However, there is currently low participation in agricultural carbon markets and a limited understanding of farmer perceptions and willingness to participate. Furthermore, farmers’ concerns regarding data privacy may complicate participation in agricultural carbon markets, which necessitates farmer data sharing with multiple entities. This study aims to address research gaps by assessing farmers’ willingness to participate in agricultural carbon markets, identifying the determinants of farmers’ willingness regarding carbon markets participation, and exploring how farmers’ concerns for data privacy relate to potential participation in agricultural carbon markets. Data were collected through a multistate survey of 246 farmers and analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and multinomial regression models. We find that the majority of farmers (71.8%) are aware of carbon markets and would like to sell carbon credits, but they express high uncertainty about carbon market information, policies, markets, and cost impacts. Just over half of farmers indicated they would share their data for education, developing tools and models, and improving markets and supply chains. Farmers who wanted to participate in carbon markets were more likely to have higher farm revenues, more likely to share their data overall, more likely to share their data with private organizations, and more likely to change farming practices and had more positive perceptions of the impact of carbon markets on farm profitability. In conclusion, farmers have a general interest in carbon market participation, but more information is needed to address their uncertainties and concerns.

Rawls in the mangrove: Perceptions of justice in nature‐based solutions projects

Abstract Adapting to and mitigating against climate change requires the protection and expansion of natural carbon sinks, especially ecosystems with exceptional carbon density such as mangrove forests (an example of ‘blue carbon’). Projects that do this are called ‘nature‐based solutions’ (NbS). International norms regulating NbS stipulate the importance of justice, in contrast with some of the history and practice in wider conservation. However, what justice means and how it manifests in practice remain contentious. Selling carbon credits on the voluntary market is a growing source of funding for NbS. A large literature examines the ethics, economics, science and politics of such payments for ecosystem services (PES), including for blue carbon. The interpretations of justice in this context are particularly contentious, but operational blue carbon projects have not been examined from a justice perspective. Here we report on a case study involving the first blue carbon project, Mikoko Pamoja, and its sister project Vanga Blue Forest, both based in Kenya. We consider how justice is conceived by local participants and beneficiaries, using interviews, focus groups and participant observation to collect data, as well as by international stakeholders and in relevant governing documents and policy. We compare these perceptions with expectations and critiques derived a priori from the literature, including a classic thought experiment that influential justice philosopher John Rawls called the ‘original position’. In contrast to high‐level policy and much of the literature, but in common with Rawls, local stakeholders emphasised distributional aspects of justice. Locally situated interpretations of contentious issues such as elite capture and commodification differed markedly from common interpretations in the literature. Our work emphasises the importance of situating abstract concepts in their local contexts when evaluating justice in NbS projects. It shows how narratives advocating technical precision and economic efficiency in NbS can militate against transparency and agency at a local level and emphasises the critical importance of benefit sharing that is perceived to be fair. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

Balancing Tradeoffs in Climate-Smart Agriculture: Will Selling Carbon Credits Offset Potential Losses in the Net Yield Income of Small-Scale Soybean (Glycine max L.) Producers in the Mid-Southern United States?

There is a need to achieve sustainable agricultural production to secure food, fiber, and fuel for a growing global population. Climate-smart (CS) actions (no-till and cover crops) can reduce carbon emissions and promote soil organic carbon (SOC) storage. Contemporary voluntary carbon markets provide producers with a monetary incentive to adopt CS actions. However, SOC–yield dynamics under CS actions are not well known, making it difficult for producers to judge whether additional income from carbon credits will offset potential losses to yield income. We designed a SOC–yield framework that captures SOC–yield–income dynamics under traditional (reduced tillage, no cover crops) and CS actions. Using a modified structured decision-making approach, we applied the framework to a case study in which producers aim to increase income by selling carbon credits after adopting CS actions. Specifically, we demonstrated how to balance tradeoffs between yield and carbon credit income that arise from tillage and winter cover crop actions (cereal rye, Secale cereale L. and crimson clover, Trifolium incarnatum L.) in a soybean (Glycine max L.) production system in Mississippi. Results indicated that a producer could minimize losses to net yield income by adopting no-till if already using cover crops. There was also evidence that carbon credit income could offset losses to yield income when adopting CS in place of traditional actions. Identifying risks to yield income and SOC storage can help design carbon neutrality policies that have minimum impact on a producer’s income. History: This paper has been accepted for the Decision Analysis Special Issue on Decision Analysis to Advance Environmental Sustainability. Funding: This work was supported by the USDA-ARS [Grants 58-0200-0-002 (Advancing Agricultural Research) and 58-6001-8-003] and the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture [McIntire Stennis Project 1020959]. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/deca.2023.0478 .

How do REDD+ projects contribute to the goals of the Paris Agreement?

Hundreds of projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhance carbon stocks (REDD+) are implemented globally, many by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or for-profit companies. Yet, at the global level, the Paris Agreement focuses on jurisdictional (national and subnational) REDD+. We ask: (1) How much can REDD+ projects contribute to achieving national and international climate objectives? (2) What are the issues in integrating REDD+ projects into national carbon accounting? Our snapshot of 377 REDD+ projects covering 53 million ha in 56 countries is based on data from the International Database on REDD+ Projects (ID-RECCO) supplemented with new data on projects’ accounting methods. The number of new REDD+ projects declined steadily from 45 new projects in 2011 to five in 2019. We examined 161 certified projects that started between 2007 and 2017; 96 of these could sell carbon credits in voluntary carbon markets by 2020 and spent on average 4.7 (± 2.4) years between project start and sales in voluntary carbon markets. Globally, REDD+ projects claim to reduce an average of 3.67 tCO2e/ha annually. This figure - combined with projects limited coverage - implies that projects need to be upscaled more than 40x to fulfil the potential contribution of tropical and subtropical forests towards limiting global warming to well below 2oC. Compared to the national carbon accounting methods, most projects in Colombia, Indonesia and Peru (63 of 86) use at least one different carbon accounting parameter. Carbon accounting inconsistencies across levels need to be addressed. Overall, the argument for REDD+ projects lies in the emissions reductions they can achieve, diversifying participation in REDD+ and providing non-carbon benefits to local communities, potentially leading to broader support for climate action.

Strengthening Local Governance of Secondary Forest in Peru

Natural forest regrowth is critical for restoring ecosystem services in degraded landscapes and providing forest resources. Those who control tenure and access rights to these secondary forest areas determine who benefits from economically charged off-farm opportunities such as finance for forest restoration, selling carbon credits, and receiving payment for ecosystem services. We explore multiple dimensions of secondary forest governance in Peru, where the lack of official government statistics of the extent, geography, and ownership, coupled with low state capacity, prevents the development of governance structures that could stimulate their sustainable management. In this paper, we review the challenges to secondary forest governance, and the opportunities to strengthen it, focusing on beneficial outcomes for smallholder farmers. We characterize secondary forest types, extent, and persistence in Peru, followed by a presentation of the social dimensions of their governance. We identify four entry points for government to take action: national mapping of the socio-geography of second growth forest, regularize the property rights of untitled landholders, relax forest regulations, and provide incentives, not sanctions, for secondary forest management. Overall, we recommend folding secondary forest governance into a landscape approach. In Peru, strengthening local forest governance could help to drive benefits of climate change mitigation incentives directly to local forest stewards.

Economic impacts of short rotation woody crops in Canada

Canada is seeking cost-effective means to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2. One of the promising means is the short rotation woody crops (SRWC) plantation, a silvicultural approach to establishing and managing fast growing plantations on previously cleared lands. This paper utilizes the data set provided by recent harvesting operations at the Ellerslie SRWC Technical Development Site in Edmonton (Alberta) to assess the ability of SRWC using High Yield Afforestation to mitigate GHG emissions and generate more wood fibre and the investment attractiveness to establish future plantations. Results illustrate that at current trading prices for carbon credits and market prices of woodchips, expected rates of return on investment for SRWC were relatively low, despite a positive net present value ($400/ha for 20 year planting cycle without carbon credits). However, estimates from the Ellerslie site indicate that 330 tons of CO2-eq per hectare are captured above and below ground over the 20 year plantation cycle. However, higher future carbon prices, a well-developed market for buying and selling carbon credits, as well as adapted policy including additional government sponsored programs for carbon credits, could make SRWC more attractive and dramatically change the economics of afforestation in the future.

Above- and below-ground carbon accumulation in cultivated macauba palm and potential to generate carbon credits

Agriculture provides an array of ecosystem services including the sequestration and storage of carbon in the biomass of plants. Research has focused on commercial crops, especially tree crops, for their potential to mitigate the impacts of climate change. In Brazil interest is growing in the commercial cultivation of macauba (Acrocomia aculeata), a palm native to the tropical regions of the American continents with fruit that can be used as the primary ingredient in the production of oils and bioenergy. However, we did not find any prior studies that had assessed macauba’s carbon sequestration potential nor any exploration in the literature of the income generation potential for commercial macauba producers to sell carbon credits. In order to understand opportunities to commercialize carbon credits from macauba, research was needed on the palm’s long-term carbon sequestration and stock capacity. In this study we measured the accumulation of carbon in commercially cultivated macauba’s biomass both below and above-ground using a selection of plants of different ages. An assessment was also made of the crop’s potential to generate carbon credits. Macauba plants were sampled in a nursery with seedlings aged 3 and 8 months, and with more mature plants cultivated in fields aged 1.6, 4.8, and 9 years. The samples were fully harvested by complete removal (including roots and above ground structures), followed by separation, quantification and carbon analysis of the different plant biomass components. The data obtained allowed for estimating the production of carbon credits and the resulting annual income. Findings indicated a differential distribution of both biomass and carbon below and above-ground in field-cultivated macauba palms. The stock of carbon in the plants aged 9 years reached 61.6 t C ha−1 with a corresponding sequestration of 226.17 t CO2 eq ha−1. The expected generation of carbon credits of palms from 1.6 to 9 years was 28.73 t CO2eq. ha− 1 per year, which could result in an annual gross income of € 761.06 per hectare. Significant amounts of stored carbon were found in both the above and below-ground biomass, suggesting that the macauba has significant potential to generate carbon credits and contribute to the mitigation of the effects of climate change.

Linking sustainable local economic development to a market-based carbon control regime: Carbon restoration projects in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa using Portulacaria afra

Orientation: There is growing interest in how international climate change mitigation and adaptation programmes play out at the local level.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the link between land restoration and carbon sequestration projects in the Eastern Cape, using Portulacaria afra (Spekboom), and market-based approaches to address global climate change.Motivation for the study: The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest areas of the country, and there is great emphasis on the establishment of economically and environmentally sustainable, as well as socially just, local economic development (LED) initiatives. However, LED projects are often not sustainable in the long run.Research design, approach and method: A mixed methods design, using data on international carbon markets, and key stakeholder interviews with those involved in LED land restoration programmes, was used. Qualitative results were analysed using Connelly’s (2007) framework for sustainable development, which included indicators for environmental protection, economic growth and social justice.Main findings: Stakeholders perceive the long-term financial sustainability of such projects as resting on their ability to earn carbon credits, despite the current very low international carbon prices.Practical/managerial implications: The long-term success of carbon-based restoration projects may depend on the establishment of a local carbon market or continued public funding. Upfront costs of land restoration projects are high and return only starts years later.Contribution/value-add: The establishment of a South African carbon market that helps carbon sequestration LED projects to meet the technical and administrative requirements needed to sell carbon credits will be an important determinant of their sustainability.

Thermoeconomic assessment of a solar polygeneration plant for electricity, water, cooling and heating in high direct normal irradiation conditions

A thermoeconomic assessment of the joint production of electricity, fresh-water, cooling and heat for a solar polygeneration plant is carried out. The aims are to assess the actual cost of each product, to conduct a sensitivity analysis of investment, fuel cost and demand, and to evaluate the effects of solar field size and the sizing of thermal energy storage, for a polygeneration plant located in an area with high solar irradiation conditions and where there is demand for its production. The solar polygeneration plant is configured by a concentrated solar power (CSP) parabolic trough collector field with thermal energy storage and backup system, multi-effect distillation (MED) module, single-effect absorption refrigeration module, and process heat module. The solar polygeneration plant is simulated in a transient regime, in a representative location with high irradiation conditions, such as in northern Chile. Three configurations are investigated: two polygeneration schemes and one considering stand-alone systems. This study reveals that a solar polygeneration plant is more efficient and cost-effective than stand-alone plants for a zone with high irradiation conditions and proximity to consumption centers, such as mining industries, which require continuous operation and energy supply with fundamentally constant demand. Furthermore, according to northern Chilean market, solar polygeneration configurations are competitive regarding electricity, fresh-water, cooling and heat productions. Additionally, solar polygeneration plants can increase the economic profit by selling carbon credits and credits of renewable-energy quotas based on the Kyoto Protocol and Chilean legislation, respectively.

Consensus, Certainty, and Catastrophe: Discourse, Governance, and Ocean Iron Fertilization

States, transnational networks of scientists, corporate actors, and institutions in the climate change regime have known for decades that iron ore, when dumped in the ocean, can stimulate the growth of plankton. Over the past twenty years, normative disagreements about appropriate behavior have shaped international governance of the phenomenon. Prior to 2007, firms lobbied governments to treat the oceans as a carbon sink and to allow corporations that dumped iron to sell carbon credits on the international market. However, after 2007 a transnational coalition of oceanographers and advocates opposed this agenda by linking it to an emergent antigeoengineering discourse. Crucial to their efforts was their interpretation of uncertainty: for opponents, scientific uncertainty implied possibly devastating consequences of iron dumping, which was thus best addressed with extreme caution. This normative approach ultimately shaped governance, since advocates successfully used it to lobby institutions in ocean governance to prevent carbon credits from being issued for ocean fertilization. Since these subjective understandings of certainty influenced global ocean governance, this article explains international behavior as a consequence of changing norms.

Waste to Electricity Generation in Thailand: Technology, Policy, Generation Cost, and Incentives of Investment

Waste-to-Energy is a challenging management in developing countries. There are many different technologies to generate electricity or heat from wastes. However, reuse and recycling are first prioritized as left a fraction of waste can be used as energy recovery. The initial cost to generate electricity from solid waste incineration is prohibitively high due to its cost of advance technology and the cost of equipment to control emissions. Thailand is agricultural based country and has experiences of many technologies to utilize waste to energy. Landfill gas and thermal gasification are increasingly interesting alternatives to municipal solid waste incineration and it is recommended that biogas technology is suitable and is cost effective in management of organic waste or animal manure waste. This research studied in existing technologies in terms of electricity generated from waste, long term government policy, carbon dioxide reduction, electricity cost production and incentive investment. Until recently, Thailand has generated electricity from waste of 47 MW, from the target in 2021 with target capacity of 400 MW. Since Thailand has an incentive investment of electric power generated from renewable sources and wastes in terms of feed-in tariffs it can motivate private investors to invest and produce electricity to the grid. To generate electricity from waste it also has potential in reducing CO 2 reduction and creates more potential jobs. In various agricultural based industries such as palm oil industry, cassava industry, in animal farm and in landfills gas have potential to generate electricity in Thailand. In case of landfill gas with the installed capacity of 3.0 MW, it can generate electricity of 13,492 MWh per year and produce potential of selling carbon credits of 60,532 ton-CO 2 per year.

Norwegian family forest owners' willingness to participate in carbon offset programs

Forests act as carbon sinks and can make significant contributions to climate change mitigation efforts. In Norway, family forest owners own 80% of productive forestland and play a central role in the management of the country's forests. Yet little is known about whether these landowners would be interested in increasing carbon sequestration on their land and selling carbon credits. Only a handful of studies have examined the factors that motivate family forest owners to participate in carbon offset programs, and all of these studies have been conducted in the United States. This study addresses this information gap using data from a mail survey of 1500 Norwegian family forest owners. A logistic regression model was developed to examine the effect of various carbon program, forestland, and landowner characteristics on participation in a hypothetical carbon offset program. Results suggest that there is a considerable amount of interest among Norwegian family forest owners and that the most important predictors of participation are payment amount offered, perceived barriers posed by management actions, importance placed on non-market forest amenities, and attitudes towards climate change.

REDD+ at a critical juncture: assessing the limits of polycentric governance for achieving climate change mitigation

In 2007, REDD+ emerged as the leading option for early climate change mitigation. In 2010, after the failure of negotiations at the Copenhagen COP, observers cited REDD+ projects and other subnational initiatives as examples of the polycentric governance (based on multiple independent actors operating at multiple levels) necessary to move climate change mitigation forward in the absence of a binding international agreement. This paper examines the ways subnational initiatives can and cannot play this role, based on the experiences and opinions of 23 REDD+ proponent organizations in six countries. These proponents have tested various approaches to climate change mitigation, demonstrating the value of a polycentric approach for promoting innovation and learning. However, from our sample, six initiatives have closed, four no longer label themselves as REDD+, only four are selling carbon credits, and less than half view conditional incentives (initially the core innovation of REDD+) as their most important intervention. While polycentric governance in REDD+ has benefits, it will not enable implementation of REDD+ as originally conceived unless accompanied by a binding international agreement.